Immune Power Diet

The Immune Power Diet is a pseudoscientific elimination diet promoted by physician Stuart M. Berger (1953-1993). The diet was based on the false idea that many people have hidden food allergies and that by eliminating certain foods and taking dietary supplements the body's immune system would be strengthened.

History

Berger authored Dr. Berger's Immune Power Diet in 1985. The book states that different health problems including AIDS and obesity are the result of an "immune hypersensitivity response" to common foods and that "detoxification", dietary supplements and weight loss can strengthen the immune system.[1][2][3]

Berger advises his readers to eliminate what he called the "Sinister Seven" from their diets, as they cause immune damage.[4] These include dairy, wheat, yeast, eggs, corn, soy and sugar. After "detoxifying" the immune system and elimination was completed, these foods could be gradually eaten again, but no more than once every four days.[1][4]

In 1994, an autopsy revealed that Berger died from hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Contributing factors to his death were cocaine addiction and obesity.[5]

Criticism

The Immune Power Diet diet was criticized as unscientific and described as quackery by nutritionists.[1][4] The Harvard Medical School Health Letter suggested the book was fiction and based on quack ideas about food allergies.[2] The diet may cause malnutrition.[6]

Berger's claim that 30% of American people have food allergies is not supported by scientific research.[1][7] The real figure (as of 2017) is less than 4%.[8][9]

Berger advocated dangerous megavitamin supplements for different ills which were unsupported by scientific evidence. Nutritionist Jack Z. Yetiv noted that Berger recommended his patients to megadose on Vitamin B6 supplements but these have been show to be toxic in large amounts and the cause of irreversible nerve damage.[4]

The Immune Power Diet is listed by immunologists as an ineffective treatment for AIDS.[10]

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See also

References
  1. Butler, Kurt. (1992). A Consumer's Guide to "Alternative Medicine": A Close Look at Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Faith-healing, and Other Unconventional Treatments. Prometheus Books. pp. 10-11. ISBN 0-87975-733-7
  2. Barrett, Stephen; Jarvis, William T. (1993). The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America. Prometheus Books. pp. 151-152. ISBN 0-87975-855-4
  3. Connolly, Berger. (April 11, 1994). How Bad Was Stuart Berger?. New York Magazine. p. 29
  4. Yetiv, Jack Z. (1988). Popular Nutritional Practices: Sense and Nonsense. Dell Publishing. pp. 312-314. ISBN 978-0440200468
  5. Sullivan, Ronald. (1994). "Autopsy Ties Diet Book Author's Death to Drugs and Heart Disease". The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  6. Williams, Sue Rodwell. (1997). Nutrition and Diet Therapy. Mosby. p 658. ISBN 978-0815192732
  7. Wardlaw, Gordon M; Insel, Paul M. Seyler, Marcia F. (1994). Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. p. 350. ISBN 978-0801677625
  8. McCarthy, Niall. (2017). "Study: Less Than 4% Of Americans Have Food Allergies". Forbes. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  9. Acker, W. W., Plasek, J. M., Blumenthal, K. G., Lai, K. H., Topaz, M., Seger, D. L., et al. (2017). Prevalence of food allergies and intolerances documented in electronic health records. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 140: 1587-1591.
  10. Dwyer, Johanna T. (1993). Nutrition, Immunology, and Quackery. In David M. Klurfeld. Nutrition and Immunology. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-4613-6257-9
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